Over the past years the Bionic Learning Network, a consortium of universities, institutes and development companies run by German automation giant Festo, has been turning out impressive robotic artifacts. Festo thinks of robots like the AquaPenguin, AquaRay and AquaJelly pictured above as technology demonstrators that help identify bionic principles. These principles in turn may be applicable in their next generation of automation products. In the latest episode of the Robots podcast, Markus Fischer, head of the Bionic Learning Network project and head of Festo's Corporate Design explains how Festo transfers technologies from biomimetic research to actual products. In the second part of this episode Victor Zykov, very well known for his work on Resilient Introspective Machines with Hod Lipson, talks more about the role of bio-inspiration as well as his favorite topic, modular robots. Zykov explains his work on his bio-inspired Molecubes (see some previous posts), and tells us how Festo may use modular robots to construct the adaptable factories of the future. Tune in!

EU Creates Self-Tuning Compiler

Robots use all kinds of embedded processors. New processors are being created all the time. Writing software for all those processors requires a compiler and the most commonly used compiler is GNU GCC, originally created by Richard Stallman that made the Free Software and Open Source movements possible. The trouble is, a lot of work is involved in optimizing a complex compiler like GCC for every new processor that turns up. What if we could use AI and machine learning techniques to do all that work? This idea was explored by a group of EU research organizations. The result is MILEPOST GCC 4.4.0, the first machine learning enabled, self-tuning compiler that can adapt to any architecture using an iterative feedback-directed process. From the IBM press release:

Initial IBM experiments conducted on IBM System p servers achieved an average 18 percent performance improvement on embedded-application benchmarks...it normally takes application developers many months to get their software running at an acceptable level of performance. Milepost GCC can reduce the amount of time it takes to reach that level by a factor of 10.

The diagram above compares a block diagram of the current GCC with MILEPOST GCC. At present MILEPOST GCC is a research compiler only but because it's Free Software, you can download MILEPOST GCC, use it, study it, and even modify the code if you wish. To make modification easier, the researchers have also created a plugin API called the Interactive Compilation Interface (ICI). For more on how the machine learning process works, visit the MILEPOST website. You can learn a lot about what's going on by reading the MILEPOST FAQ. There is also a mailing list for those who'd like to join the development project and help work on this new generation of intelligent self-tuning compilation tools.

Earlier this year NOAA warned that increased global warming was combining with natural variability in the Arctic and could result in an ice-free Arctic in as little as 30 years, rather than the end of the century as predict by earlier models. This has created a sense of urgency among organizations studying the changes. NOAA and NASA have combined forces with Northrop Grumman to create a specially modified Global Hawk UAV that will make 6 long duration missions over the Arctic and the Pacific ocean to collect data in troposphere and lower stratosphere. The Global Hawk is an autonomous robot that can stay aloft for 31 hours at altitudes up to 65,000 feet. NASA is also using a UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar) to create highly detailed Arctic ice maps:

Using these data, scientists would also be able to measure the speed, direction and topographic height of ice caps whose sub-glacial bedrock topography is already mapped – thereby providing critical information that can be used to improve models of glacier mechanics.

Meanwhile, Seaglider robots have been deployed off Greenland to make more accurate measurements of Arctic sea currents. Scientist believe the Arctic runoff is already altering the density of sea water in the Labrador Sea, driving critical ocean circulation that affects the global climate. We mentioned last month that another seaglider project has resulted in a new understanding of ocean circulation that should significantly improve the accuracy of climate models. Canada is also deploying two AUVs to scan the seabed to further their claims in the coming UN Convention that will determine which nations get sovereign rights to the new ocean areas forming as the Arctic melts.

Senario: Pleo is Alive and Well

We reported in April that the creator of the Pleo robot dinosaur, Ugobe, Inc., filed chapter 7 bankruptcy, leaving the future of the Pleo in doubt. Then we got some good news in June when Jetta, the Chinese company who manufactured the Pleo robots for Ugobe, announced they had bought the rights to the robot and would continue building them. This left only the question of immediate availability. Would Pleos continue to be sold in the US? Megan Lawler writes:

You will be happy to know that our beloved Pleo has been and still is very much available here in the U.S. thanks to consumer electronics and entertainment leader, Senario. We are currently servicing the market with our inventory. We do buy various products from Jetta and of course they manufactured our current inventory. Should Senario continue with new manufactured product, Jetta will indeed be the manufacturer.

Megan goes on to say that you can buy a Pleo today at Botabingbotaboom.com [$299], Target.com [$349], BestBuy.com [not in online catalog], and, of course Amazon.com [$157]. The Amazon price looks pretty good but their prices fluctuate frequently so your mileage may vary.

For those who haven't kept up with the NASA Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, here's the situation. Both rovers are still going but dust accumulations on the solar panels have limited their power. To make matters worse, Spirit became stuck on the side of a sand dune. NASA engineers are making elaborate efforts to free the rover, including creating an exact simulation of the Martial soil. In the meantime, a freak wind gust has purged most of the dust from the robot's solar panels, giving it more power than it's had in years. With all that extra power and no where to go, scientists decided to try some astronomical observations. The first result is shown above, a view of the night sky from sol 1943 (June 22 Earth time). Most of what you see are not stars, just hot pixels. The bright streak on the left is Canopus. To eliminate the noise and make the stars stand out, engineers plan to combine multiple exposures on future attempts. They also hope to capture images of Earth and Venus in the twilight sky. For more see the detailed story by Nancy Atkinson in Universe Today. I've included a few other recent photos from Spirit after the break. For even more images visit the Spirit raw image repository for over 100,000 photos from the Mars rover.

Robots Sing Happy Birthday to UK Science Museum

Peer Lawther writes, "you kindly wrote about the BERTI robot (Another Breakthrough in Rock, Paper, Scissors) a few months ago; many thanks for doing this. We have now uploaded two follow up robotics videos, this time based on the work of Professor Eduardo Miranda at the Interdisplinary Centre for Computer Music Research at Plymouth (UK) university and the Science Museum". The first video, seen above, shows robots singing "Happy Birthday" to the Science Museum. The museum is 100 years old. After the break is the second video, and possible the more interesting one. It's shows the three autonomous, intelligent robots learning to sing through a process in which they evolve their own unique musical languages.

I hope it's not too soon for another roundup because our mailbox is overflowing. Props to Geekdad at Wired for including us in his list of 52 Robot Geeks on Twitter. Wired also posted an interesting article suggesting birds may be able to see magnetic fields thanks to some quantum mechanics going on in their eyes. Based on Roger Ebert's review, the new Transformers movie is for the birds too. He describes the movie as "a horrible experience of unbearable length". Add that to the new Terminator on the robot movies that suck list. On the other hand, at least one fan likes Transformers enough to build a full-size Bumble Bee in his front yard. But that pales in comparison to the full-size 59 foot Gundam that now stands over Tokyo. John Palmisano sent us video of smaller combat robots fighting it out at RoboGames 2009. More peaceful robots were the subject of several recent 'The Future and You' podcasts featuring our friend Tom Atwood of Robot Magazine. Finally, Stephen Hsu discusses Bruce Charlton's recent essay on the question, "Why are modern scientists so dull?" (PDF format). Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please. And don't forget to follow us on twitter.

Cute Japanese Robot Makes Coffee

A little robot named Hina (meaning young chick) has become very popular through the Japanese video sharing community, Nico Nico Douga. The video shows a 36 centimeter tall robot modeled after a young girl, grinding beans and pouring ingredients to make coffee. Created by mujaki, she was built largely out of modified parts from KHR-2HV, a robot kit made by KONDO.

I think this review marks some kind of record for how extensively we've tested a hardware product. Normally, when we receive a piece of hardware here at robots.net, we give a brief evaluation and write a basic review of it. So when Pololu sent a 3pi robot in late 2008, I expected to write and post a quick review. As it has turned out, here it is June of 2009 and the 3pi has been more thoroughly field tested than any other robot we've worked with. We've had way too much fun with this little robot and by the time you finish reading the review, you'll probably want to buy one or two for yourself. Read on for all the details as well as loads of photos.

Forbes AI Report: Gigadeath to the Artilects!

Forbes has posted a huge, mixed bag of interesting articles on AI and robots. They're calling it their AI Report. David Gelernter contributes the article, "What Happened to Theoretical AI". There are also articles from AGI folks, like Ben Goertzel's "AI And What To Do About It" which offers career advice for humans planning to live through the singularity. Even more loaded with singularity buzzwords is The Coming Artilect War by Hugo de Garis where you can read about artilect gods, Cosmists, Terrans, and Cyborgists duking it out in a post singularity world:

I see a war coming, the "Artilect War," not between the artilects and human beings, as in the movie Terminator, but between the Terrans, Cosmists and Cyborgists. This will be the worst, most passionate war that humanity has ever known ... There will be gigadeath

Maybe it's me but I keep expecting Xenu to get involved in all that gigadeath. Obviously, Hugo is as pessimistic about the singularity as Ray Kurzweil is optimistic. If reading singularity proselytes is more than you can take, there are plenty of other articles more grounded in science and philosophy such as The Ethical War Machine by Patrick Lin which addresses the legal and technical challenges of miltary robots; and Who Needs Humanoids by Helen Greiner who points out that when the first Roomba owners provided feedback, they weren't saying "I wish my Roomba was more human-like", they were saying "I wish my Roomba did a better job of cleaning the floor". Judea Pearl offers an article called "Giving Computers Free Will" but it turns out he believes free will is an illusion (as always, I recommend the more coherent explanation of free will offered by Daniel Dennett in Freedom Evolves).

The debate over human vs robot space exploration continues. The last time this issue made news was in 2006 with the death of long time opponent of human space exploration, James Van Allen. Opponents argue that the only purpose of space exploration is to return data to Earth, something they argue can be done by robots more cost effectively than by humans. No one seriously argues that robots should not explore space and there is a long history of successful robotic space exploration. Proponents of human exploration simply disagree that robots alone are sufficient. The latest dust up occurred recently with Stephen Hawking's call for Human colonies on the Moon and Mars. The point Hawking makes is that robotic exploration doesn't expand the human race beyond the planet Earth:

"Robotic missions are much cheaper and may provide more scientific information, but they don't catch the public imagination in the same way, and they don't spread the human race into space, which I'm arguing should be our long-term strategy. If the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Hawking points out that if we devote only one quarter of one percent of the world's GDP toward space exploration and colonization, it would give us a budget 20 times that currently allocated to the International Space Station. One problem may be NASA itself. Scientists within the agency itself have argued that NASA's current human space flight program is an expensive, misguided boondoggle. Now the Obama administration has intervened and may force them to drop Ares to work on a more sensible alternative to get humans back into space. Meanwhile, space robots soldier on. The Japanese Kaguya probe recorded it's final approach to a Lunar impact and the NASA LRO, pictured above, was successfully launched days ago and started it journey towards the Moon.

Random Robot Roundup

Worried about super smart killer robots taking over the world? No need, says Francis X Govers III; claims that machines will surpass human brain power any time soon are "complete and utter BS". On the other hand, the Swirling Brain sent a link to the latest killer robot designs the Air Force is working on for urban warfare, such as kamikaze insect UAVs that will land on an enemy sniper's neck and explode. And that brings us to the latest news from DIY Drones; version 2.2 of ArduPilot, the open source AUV software is out. If you don't want your flying robot to crash, you'll also want to get all those resister values right and the ucHobby blog offers help in the form of a handy new online resister color code chart. Further afield, robots.net user montesns sent a link to Honda's new 3D Asimo website. And in the UK, the Shadow Robot Company is involved in two new research programs: one called HANDLE and another called PV-S aimed at robots for cleaning solar panels. Dr. Seth Quartey let us know about his website showcasing ads from Universities all over the world offering robotics academic and research programs. In news from beyond the Earth, robots are shaping up to be key players in the latest shuttle mission to the ISS, which also includes installation of the COLBERT hardware for the humans. Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please. And don't forget to follow us on twitter.

Science fiction movie and television icon Robby the Robot from the 1956 movie The Forbidden Planet has entered many hearts (and Top 10 lists). The latest episode of the Robots podcast interviews Fred "Robotman" Barton, who restored the original Robby, and whose company is the exclusive manufacturer and licensee for Robby and many other well known movie robots. Barton specializes on life-size computerized replicas, including those of the original Star Wars Trilogy droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, Robot Model B9 from Lost in Space, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, Maria from Metropolis, the Target Earth robot, or the T2-Endoskeleton. In the interview he describes his work with Robby and other robot collectibles and shares his experience with robots and Hollywood - tune in, or participate in the contest to win a DVD or bluray of your favorite movie robot.

Robots.Video: A Vintage Robo Alpha Performance

This impressive display of chaotic robotic noise is from a 1999 Detroit performance of experimental noise artist Government Alpha (performing as alter-ego ROBO-ALPHA). Government Alpha aptly describes itself as Yasutoshi Yoshida's "Experimental Harsh Noise" project on their myspace page. If you'd like to hear more harsh noise, check out Government Alpha's CDs or you might be interested in the "Extreme Music From Japan" compilation CD (1995) from Susan Lawly (described as "a very good representation of the finest noise Japan has to offer"). The YouTube video has collected a small but extreme range of comments from, "I want to be a robot when I grow up" to "the most ridiculous waste of human energy I've ever witnessed". Depending on your personal proclivities, you may want to either increase your volume to maximum or mute it altogether before clicking the play button. You have been warned. Props to our friends at Pink Tentacle for bringing this noise to our attention.

Can robots or other forms of artificial life teach us anything about life and death? This question is pondered by researcher Carlos Gershenson in his short but interesting essay, "What Does Artificial Life Tell Us About Death?" (PDF format). Death occurs when an organism loses the particular organization that allows the process we call life to occur. Take a living organism, put it in a blender, and a few minutes later you will have exactly the same molecules but with a different organization. The living organism now exists only as a description to third person observers. Gershenson notes:

When the bits describing the organization of the organism are erased, the only place where the organism prevails is in the observer. The same is for robots. The same is for animals. The same is for humans.

Some artificial life, such as digital organisms, can be backed up or saved and then recreated with the same organization. The same may be true for wet alife such as protocells. "If we can create again a living system with the same organization", Gershenson asks, "did it die in the first place?" He goes on to provide speculation on possible definitions of death that correspond to specific views of life. Robotologists will note that he fails to mention the possibility of robot hell or silicon heaven.

< html > < head > < title >Awesome Shirt< /title > < META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOFOLLOW"> < /head > < body > Another robotastic offering (and an HTML in-joke at the same time) from Chop Shop, best known (around here, anyway) for their 51 robots shirt (which, incidentally, is now available for pre-order with glow-in-the-dark robots). The Robots No Follow shirt [...]

Video Friday: RoboGeisha (NSFW)

Note: this movie trailer contains lots of obviously fake violence, but the really NSFW bits are from 1:48 to 1:54 and 2:17 to 2:22. Skip those and you should be okay. Geisha is Japanese girl. Geisha is beautiful. Geisha is wild. Geisha is… ROBOT! Yeah, awesome! Now we’re talking! GEISHA MISSILE! GEISHA CHAINSAW! GEISHA TRANSFORM!!! But wait, there’s more! FRIED SHRIMP! BUST MACHINE GUN! HIP KATANA! This movie [...]

Have a pressing need for an autonomous robot car capable of avoiding obstacles? Instead of buying one, how about making your own from an old toy, an Arduino board, and a few sensors? The video from Make explains how, and you can find all the details you need on Dean Segovis’ website at the link [...]

ZMP Robot Car Avoids Obstacles, Costs $7000

ZMP’s 1/10 scale robot cars are designed so that groups who are working on DARPA Challenge style autonomous vehicles won’t have to shell out for the real thing, but can instead test their software on something a bit more affordable. The ZMP car has integrated stereo vision along with an optional image recognition module, as [...]

AeroVironment, makers of the Raven UAV and the Dragon Eye UAV (among other things), have been working for several years now on a DARPA funded program to develop micro nano air vehicles that use flapping wings as a lift and propulsion source. Now, we’ve seen a lot of robots that use flapping wings, but only [...]

SCRATCHbot Uses Whiskers For Search And Rescue

This is the second whiskery rat-bot we’ve seen in just a few weeks, which is a little random, to say the least. SCRATCHbot hails from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, and has been in development since 2003. It’s designed to seek out humans “in environments where visually dominant predators perform badly.” Not to imply that SCRATCHbot [...]

Building robots isn’t easy, and everybody has to start somewhere. Me? My first robot was a cute little photovore, but I had to teach myself to solder in order to build it. If that’s a big first step for you (it’s okay to admit it), iBotz kits are small, cheap, fun, and a good way [...]

Awesome Retro Robots Revealed In Japan

I don’t speak any Japanese, so unfortunately I’ve only been able to understand little snippets of information, but according to an article on Robot Watch, an autonomy of robots (yeah, I’m trying out a new collective noun) designed and constructed by Jiro Aizawa in the 50s and 60s have been located in a wearhouse in [...]

This is not, of course, the first steam powered thing we’ve seen here on BotJunkie, nor is it the first steam powered tank… But I’m pretty sure it’s the first one that’s driven by a humanoid, in some kind of steampunk/robot mashup. What’s the point? Er, I have no idea, but it’s got cool lighting [...]

Humanoid Tranforms Into Robot Car

I think this is the fourth, and hopefully by no means the last, transforming robot car we’ve had the pleasure of posting… Here’s the other one two and three. What sets this apart (aside from the theme music) is that it looks like it may have been built from scratch as part of a robotics [...]

Markus Fischer, head of the Bionic Learning Network project and head of Corporate Design talks transferring technology from biomimetic research to actual products and their work on the AquaPenguin, AquaRay and AirJelly. Victor Zykov, PhD and PostDoc from Cornell University talks about modular robotics and introduces his bio-inspired Molecubes.

Robots: Celebrity Robots Brought to Life

Fred Barton, also known as "Robotman", introduces Robby the Robot and talks about building robot collectibles for museums and fellow enthusiasts.

Dirk Wollherr, senior researcher at the Technical University of Munich, and Astrid Weiss from the University of Salzburg on the design and the goals of the Autonomous City Explorer (ACE) robot.

Robots: Robot actors at the theater

Swiss theater director Christian Denisart talks about his latest play where 3 of the 5 main characters are mobile robots. Nicolas Tomatis, CEO of Bluebotics Ltd., describes the three robotic actors, an obedient robot dog, a distinguished robot butler and a sensual female, in more detail.

MIT's Nikolaus Correll on his robot swarms for turbine inspection and his latest research on cooperating networks. In part two Roderich Gross introduces the swarm-bots and his work on robot cooperation, self-assembly and division of labour.

Robots: Giant Roaming Creatures

Theo Jansen describes his Strandbeest, giant walking creatures that can walk and sense their environments. We then talk to Jaimie Mantzel who is building a giant 6-legged robot on his mountain in Vermont.

William "Red" Whittaker, director of the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University, talks about his team's bid for the Google Lunar X Prize.

Robots: Learning with LEGO

In this episode we speak with Chris Rogers about the use of LEGO in educating young children in engineering, math and science. We then speak with Liz Herron on her experiences with children using LEGO MINDSTORMS robotic kits at the LEGO Education Centre.

In this episode we speak with Davide Faconti, leader of the REEM project, one of the few European contenders in humanoid robotics. We then speak with Jun Ho Oh from South Korea who was the general chair of the last International Conference on Humanoid Robots for his snapshot view of the field as well as the HUBO humanoids developed in his lab.

Robots: Robot Ethics (Part 2)

This second episode in a two-part series on Robot Ethics interviews Ronald Arkin, Regents' Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Georgia Tech University in the US. Topics include military robots, robots in the society, medical robots and legal responsibilities.

This first episode in a two part series on Robot Ethics interviews Noel Sharkey, Professor of Public Engagement, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Topics include military robots, robots in the society, medical robots and legal responsibilities.

Robots: Human-Robot Love

David Levy, author of the book "Love + Sex with Robots" and Kathleen Richardson who is a doctor of Robot Anthropology at Cambridge University discuss the future of human-robot relationships, both physical and emotional.

Raúl Ordóñez from the Motoman Robotics Lab talks about research in industrial robotics and how he hopes to use visual servoing as a feedback mechanism allowing robot arms to accomplish complex tasks such as juggling.

Robots: 2008 New Year's Special

We review the biggest events in robotics in 2008 and look to what 2009 has to offer with our panel of experts: Dan Kara from Robotics Trends, Terry Fong from the NASA Ames Research Center, Dario Floreano from the EPFL, Steve Rainwater from robots.net, and Minoru Asada from Osaka University.

Mark Tilden, passionate robot builder with WowWee Robotics, talks about designing robots for children, and what he thinks that scientists and researchers can learn from the toy industry.

Robots: Robot Musicians

Gil Weinberg who is the Director of Music Technology at Georgia Tech, presents his wooden robot drummer Haile that is capable of playing with human teachers and even evolving its own beats to reach robotic improvisation. He also introduces his latest robot, Shimon the Marimba player. Our second guest, Atsuo Takanishi describes the Waseda Flutist, a robot that mimics human lungs, vocal chords, and lips to accurately play the flute.

Robert Full from UC Berkley presents his research on animal locomotion and how his insights have been inspiring engineers to create robots. Auke Ijspeert from the EPFL then shares some thoughts on bio-inspired locomotion.

Robots: Androids, Human Presence and the Uncanny Valley

Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University introduces his androids, including the robotic replicate of his then 5 year old daughter, a female android modeled after the NHK news announcer Ayako Fujii and a copy of himself, the Geminoid. He explains Android Science and how his explorations of the uncanny valley may help to understand human presence. This episode then features the last quarter of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".

Sarah Bergbreiter from the University of Maryland gives us an overview of her work with robotic mobile sensor networks, walking and jumping micro-robots as well as fast prototyping of novel robots. Aaron Hoover at Berkeley talks about novel manufacturing techniques with smart composites. This episode then features the third part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".

Robots: Warehouse Robots

In this episode Raffaello D'Andrea of KIVA Systems describes how hundreds of autonomous robots can be used to automate warehouses. This episode then features the second part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".

In this show we dive into the world of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with Navinda Kottege from the Australian National University. In the second part Marc Sherman from Teledyne RD Instruments tells us more about AUV technology and the importance of Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) for underwater navigation. Finally we are treated to the first part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's story "Selkies".

Robots: An Uncertain Revolution

In this episode we dive into the revolution brought on by the field of probabilistic robotics with Claudio Mattiussi. We then launch a most "uncertain" competition to see how good our listeners are at making probabilistic predictions to estimate the cleaning capabilities of a Roomba robot.

This episode discusses bacteria-propelled micro robots and their potential for medical applications inside the human body. In the first part Metin Sitti explains how his robots can join forces with bacteria. In the second part gastroenterologist Mark Schattner discusses current uses and future potential from a medical perspective.

Robots: DelFly and Europe's Micro Air Vehicle Competition

In this episode we cover two major events in aerial robotics: the announcement of the DelFly Micro and the 2008 European Micro Air Vehicle (EMAV) Competition. We first speak with Christophe de Wagter, a member of the Dutch team that's been churning out amazing flapping-wing robots in the last few years. Our second interview features Peter Vörsmann, chair of this year's EMAV competition, to explain the latest advances in autonomous flying vehicles.

This episode gives an insight into part of the online robotics community. We interview Steve Rainwater on his experience with robots.net, the first and probably largest robot community site online. Mikell Taylor shares her experience with the IEEE Spectrum Automaton blog and also gives us a quick insight into her current job at Bluefin Robotics.

Robots: Modular and Reconfigurable Robotics

This episode centers on modular robots. We interview Kasper Stoy on research in Modular Robotics. Robert Fitch gives an insight into Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robots.

Manuela Veloso, President-Elect of the International RoboCup Federation, gives a look behind the scenes of robot soccer.

Robots: A Robot Fly at Harvard and at the MoMA

This episode centers on the robotic fly, featuring interviews with professor Robert Wood at Harvard university and with Paola Antonelli, the curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Our inaugural episode centers on the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, featuring interviews with professor Daniel Huttenlocher from Team Cornell and Rick Yoder from Velodyne, a producer of LIDAR sensors used by several teams in the challenge.

Robots: 23 May 2008, Trailer 1

Robots: Coming Soon! This is the trailer for the new Robots podcast, your source for news and views on robotics. Our inaugural episode will be released on 6 June 2008.

This 1.5 m. (5 foot) tall robot can play the violin thanks to its human like dexterity. It is one of a number of robots Toyota is developing to assist humans in Japan's greying society.

Mythbusters - Mona Lisa drawn in 80 milliseconds

This video shows the difference between a CPU (robot) and a GPU by demonstrating their painting capacities.

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Scientists at Reading University have created a robot that is controlled by living rat brain cells grown in a lab.

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Amphibious Robot Snake

The ACM-R5 robot snake can glide through water elegantly. It was developed by the Hirose-Fukushima Robotics Lab in Japan.

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The Trons is a self-playing robot band consisting of four robots - two guitar players (one of whom also does the vocals), a keyboard player and a drummer.

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Big Dog - an ultra stable quadruped robot

BigDog is a dynamically stable robot using four legs for movement. This video demonstrates how it handles being kicked, balancing on slippery ice and overcoming obstacles.

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Robots with a mind of their own are now being created which can physically join together and self-assemble to fulfill different functions.

Tilted Twister - Robot Rubik's Cube Solver

An ingenious lego robot solves a Rubik's Cube in just a few minutes.

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"When I brought home a Roboquad robot the other day and started playing with it, our resident guardian K9 was none too pleased.

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Robots inspired by Animals

Robotics researchers are increasingly turning to nature for inspiration. Watch a robotic salamander, a water strider robot, mechanical cockroaches and some cool self-configuring robots.

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These robotic fish developed at Essex University look and move almost like the real thing.

Dinosaur Robots - Japan

Two dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus rex and Parasaurolophus, have been brought to life by Japanese scientists.

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An amazing automated lego factory that produces little lego cars. A fascinating (albeit somewhat slow-paced) video that truly shows the power of lego.

Robot Asimo

Walking and running humanoid robot which can carry and deliver items. It can run at a speed of up to of 6 km/h and slalom around obstacles.

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The "Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot" is an experimental mechanism in which a live cockroach is the pilot. It stands on top of a trackball which has been modified to control a three-wheeled robot.

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Transformer Robot

A real transforming robot which can turn from a car into a humanoid-like robot. A larger scale version would have been even more amazing.

These smooth moving Sony robots have some impressive dance moves.

The iBotz line of educational robot kits are an ideal introduction for children ages 8 and up wanting to investigate the fascinating world of electronics and intelligent machines. Developed with the help of the Open University in the United Kingdom, these kits have a strong focus on teaching not only how to build the robot, [...]

New Phoenix Demonstration Videos!

We’ve been a bit quiet on the blog front as we are getting ready for Robogames 2009 in a little over a week and are furiously working away to finish up projects for demonstration. Our video production crew has been keeping busy also, and just finished up some new demonstration videos for the Phoenix Hexapod, [...]

This has to be one of our hottest selling Robotics controllers yet. Our initial stock sold out almost immediately, the 2nd shipment sold out before we even received it in, and the third shipment received today  is already half way gone! Get ‘em while they’re hot! The Roboard RB-100 is a new breed of robotics controller: [...]

Hexbugs and Bioloids, Oh My!

Our video crew has been hard at work showcasing our various robotic products, and recently highlighted the Bioloid and Hexbug robots. Is your house tidy? Are you lacking pesky insects in your kitchen? HEXBUGs are your solution! Why deal with real insects when you can fill that void with these cute little robobugs! Hexbugs are tiny, cute, [...]

I remember being blown away at how strong my first hobby servos were when I built my Hexapod 2 from Lynxmotion about 12 years ago. In comparison, they were literally just a fraction of the strength of modern digital servos, and the gap widens even further when put up against a robotic actuator such as [...]

Robotis Ollo Bug Kit

OLLO is a reconfigurable robot construction kit for beginners of any age. Using an easy to build plates and rivets system you’ll be on your way to making your own robot in no time! The OLLO Bug Kit has very detailed and well illustrated instructions to build 4 different types of robotic bugs that can [...]

While most participating in the robotic educational and combat competitions know the Banebots name rather well, we wanted to make sure that other roboticists out there knew how awesome their line of wheels are. Finding the right wheels for a robot is often a difficult ordeal. Matching wheel size to hubs and motor shafts can [...]

New parts are in the house!

We have more goodies in and cannot wait to share! We’re serious, it’s like Christmas morning each day we get new stuff in, just ask our extremely annoyed shipping/receiving department about it. New product shows up and our techs swarm in like vultures! First up we have the Propeller Education Kit which is an absolute steal [...]

You’ve all seen and heard the robotic dancing sensation known as Keepon, and now you can own one! When Keepon first debuted, bouncing along to Spoon’s “I Turn My Camera On”, the tech community went nuts! The simple, cute external appearance of this robot and it’s natural ability to bop along with music was an instant [...]

Want to win a Bioloid? Announcing the TRC Tutorial Contest!

Time flies! It’s that time again to officially announce the next round of the Trossen Robotics Community (TRC) Contest. We had quite a bit of success with our previous Project Contests and a lot of very cool entries, however we are going to mix things up this time. This round is going to be a Tutorial [...]

To better understand animal behavior, scientists are dressing up data-gathering robots in animal garb. By fitting in with their unsuspecting friends, robot bees, turkeys and lizards are recording intimate details of habitats that were never before seen.

Diving Robots Could Recover Air France 447's Black Box

As more details of Air France 447's final minutes become known, deep-sea technology experts are saying that the recovery of the aircraft's black boxes will be difficult, but not impossible, with the help of deep-sea-diving robots.

Two robots can defuse dirty bombs, take on riots and fight fires-giving their controller a comfortable distance from dangerous situations. Here is an up-close look from the show floor of Robobusiness 2009.

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Safety Snake: The Construction Worker's New Best Friend?

Inspecting high-rise construction sites is a dangerous job, but somebody-or some robot-has to do it. Engineers at Virginia Tech built the HyDRAS-Ascent II to climb by encircling a beam and twisting its 90-degree joints in sequence.

Scientists studying animal behavior and movement have developed robotic birds and bugs capable of anything from surveillance to space exploration. Here are five of our favorite biologically inspired machines.

Inside FIRST Robotics 2009: Robots are Now Ready to Rumble

This week, high school robotics teams from around the country concluded the six-week build ahead of the regional FIRST 2009 Robotics Competitions. We dropped in on George Westinghouse High to unveil their design for this year's competition.

Help for disabled people has increasingly been the domain for skilled dogs. But Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab has another solution. Their answer: The EI-E, a robot that can perform basic household tasks on command.

MIT Unveils Intelligent Robot Forklift for War Zones

The new, U.S. Army-funded forklift robot recognizes voice commands, can learn the layout of a makeshift warehouse and operate out of doors. It may be able to save lives on the field and make warehouse work more efficient at home.

This week, high school students around the country-and from 10 other nations-began the round-the-clock effort to build a robot fit for international competition before time runs out in mid-February.

5 Homemade Robots That Offer Hope for DIY Geeks (With Video)

Ever wanted to build your own robot army, but didn't think you had the chops? Take heart in a middle-aged software engineer who's slapped together everything from automated furniture to a walking webcam-and even a Wii-mote to rule them all.

The Odyssey IV can reach depths of more than 19,000 ft to explore the ocean's depths on its own, fight strong currents and gather crucial data. Our intrepid reporter uses it to run down a seagull.

Without Winner, TechX Offers Gut Check for Worldwide War Bots

Popular Mechanics was the only major media outlet onhand in Singapore for this weekend's TechX Challenge with answers to those questions-and videos-from the next robo research frontier.

From Singapore, PM gets a sneak peek at the latest new robot showdown. And these iRobot mods could lead the way for smaller countries to hand-build autonomous armies of their own.

Inside a Student-Built FIRST Robot: Interactive How It Works

You don't need an expensive lab to engineer a sophisticated robot-just the vision of a maverick inventor, the spur of competition and a bunch of high school students armed with power tools.

Following the lead of DARPA's Urban Challenge, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence has held its own robotics competition. PM profiles the winning team and three others that took innovative approaches to the challenge.